Snooker's Coming Home!

In a exciting addition for the 2016/2017 World Snooker tour, a 'Home Nations' series of ranking tournaments will be staged in the UK starting with the new English Open event in Manchester on October 10-16.

The English Open, alongside new events the Irish Open (Belfast, 14-20 November), Scottish Open (Glasgow, 12-18 December) and the long-established Welsh Open (Cardiff, 13-19 February 2017), will provide more UK snooker fans with a chance to see their favourite players up close.

As well as £336,000 total prize money for each tournament (£70,000 going to the winner), another first for pro snooker is a massive £1 million bonus if a player achieves a “Grand Slam” of winning all four Home Nations events within the same season.

Shanghai Masters champion Kyren Wilson said, "It's important to have big goals so a lot of players will have a keen eye on that £1 million bonus.

"If one player can win the first two events then there will be added expectation, but he’ll be full of confidence and hard to stop.”

Many snooker followers have felt that with the bonus being so large, and that all the Home Nations tournaments are UK based, we'll be seeing Ronnie O'Sullivan feature in these events. If the Rocket does go on to win the English Open, then the five-time world champion will be gunning hard for that big prize, by far the largest ever offered in snooker's history.

Personally I feel that just getting professional snooker back in Ireland and Scotland is a great thing considering the large following and top players we have from those countries, and I'm eagerly looking forward to these events, especially considering they'll all be broadcast live on EuroSport.

Another interesting addition to the Home Nations series is the inclusion of two wildcards from each country in each tournament. Usually I'm against wildcards, especially having four or more of them entering a tournament without participating in the qualifying rounds, but due to each tournament featuring a flat draw of 128 players it is a bit fairer to the established pros.

The first Home Nations event, the English Open, will be held at EventCity, Manchester on October 10-16, tickets are available here.

Next up on the pro snooker tour is the fan-favourite Paul Hunter Classic in Fürth, Germany, which has been made a full ranking event for the first time. Click here for the draw for the tournament which is held between August 24-28.